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Comment by bootsz | Hacker News Reader

Yes, the system sucks. That said, there are ways you can deal with it. Everyone's situation is different, and I don't know yours. But there's basically two main approaches you can take:

1) Don't devote much time to studying, and focus on companies that don't rely on whiteboarding leetcode-style interviews. They're harder to find, but they exist. FAANG probably isn't going to be an option, unless you get lucky.

2) Go all-in on studying. Make the time. Even an hour a day. Cut back on work and social obligations. Chip away at problems for several months. Keep track of the ones you get stuck on and re-do them a few weeks later. Try some practice interviews at sites like interviewing.io with real humans, and listen to their feedback. Repeat, repeat until you feel more confident. It takes time, but it pays off.

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First point is great. It also removes a lot of stress if you decide to go in with the mindset of "well, if they ask me a bunch of algo brain teasers I'll just walk out". Instead of grinding on leetcode, you can put together notes on the most impactful work you've done (hard numbers are good here), or study language/system mechanics.

Is whiteboard interviews a sv thing? Because they seem to be rare in the Midwest? Maybe I've just been lucky. But they seem like an incredibly poor way to interview someone.

I'm in the northeast, and I've found them to be pretty common. But I've interviewed a few places that did not do them.

I will never conduct a white board style interview, and in the future while interviewing the company, never take one. That is an automatic pass. Hell I'd recommend hiring someone that simply said "no" to that style of interview

I’m curious to know what you think a better way would be?

It’s not really that difficult.

I have a simplified skeleton of class that is similar to the problems we solve every day and failing unit tests.

They have to make the unit tests pass.

Then I give them a second set of requirements and they have to make the second set of tests pass without breaking the first set.

Honestly, tech interviews are really simple to conduct. Give a few challenges. See if they stumble hard. See how they interact (quite frankly the most important aspect if they have any technical experience). Give hints if necessary. Interviews are stressful enough, so a small nudge is fine. But you can definitely tell who is capable, and those that don't have the experience pretty quickly.

I find it doubtful that you are asking in good faith.

This is a topic that has been discussed to death for years and there are ample resources on the Internet for anyone who is genuinely interested in alternative approaches to whiteboard interviewing.

It's fairly easy. Give a problem, for the person to work on, they code it, they might need some hints or direction. Interviews are already stressful. Get the person actually coding, doing something. Whiteboard interviews are just plain stupid. Whiteboard is maybe 1 percent of the day to day. Why in the world would you judge a candidate on that over actually testing their abilities and more importantly their ability to interact and adapt

I'll be crude but whiteboard interviews are fucking stupid, obnoxious and wastes time, you will definitely miss out on quality candidates. You might as throw a personality test in for the ultimate combo of "how to fail at hiring"

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